Freelance Copywriter and outdoor specialist
For the freelancer, gardening is a great hobby. Fitting smoothly into those shorter between-jobs moments, it also allows for panic-growing when the longer ones hit.
However, I have to be honest here and admit that the, ‘If I can’t afford to buy food, I’ll have to grow it!‘ approach is all very well but only (in my garden) if you can live comfortably on blueberries, spinach, and chives.
Which is why I am fast becoming a rather unconventional gardener.
‘One season following the other, laden with happiness and tears.’
So go the lyrics from Fiddler on the Roof. And we’ve all certainly experienced the happiness and tears over the last year. Some things don’t change though, and it is nature’s constancies that have helped keep me going during the coronavirus pandemic. The seasons, the tides, the phases of the moon, all these patterns help me remember I’m part of something much bigger (and far more important) than myself. Continue reading “Sunrise Sunset”
‘I’m currently harvesting a great crop of Drosophila melanogaster from my compost bin.’
Remarked my neighbour over the garden wall. Remembering secondary school biology experiments, I nodded wisely and responded,
‘Me too but mine are in my office.’
There would have been a time when an abundance of desk-bound fruit flies would have shocked me. Not any more. My home office is currently doubling as a greenhouse. This former spare room isn’t alone in its multi-occupancy status. The kitchen has developed into a sourdough micro-bakery, and the lounge has gained additional status as a flour warehouse.
There would have been a time when all of this would have annoyed me but these days I find it exciting. Please allow me to explain.
Continue reading “There’s a fruit fly in my office – a different type of productivity”
Frugal has surely to be an unusual favourite word, especially for someone who struggles to correctly pronounce the letter r. With its rather Dickensian hints of struggle, dearth and hunger, frugality is perhaps not the most popular of life goals. It does however have its own rewards, and not just financial ones. Sir David Attenborough would agree with me on this point. Continue reading “Living frugally? Sir David and I recommend giving it a try”
I’ve always been an eager gardener but I know I’m not the only one who’s found renewed interest in all things horticultural since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. My particular gardening focus has been growing my own food (I do sometimes share the bounty with the family). This includes vegetables, fruit and some rather unusual edible flowers.
Continue reading “Gardening and freelance writing… a match made in heaven?”
I’ve been working from home as a freelance copywriter for five years now. I’m a big fan of the home office (and indeed the camper van office) but was fascinated to see how the rest of the world would take to it when the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown hit us back in March. RBS has recently told 50,000 employees to stick with home working until 2021. It seems likely that many big employers will take the same approach.
Continue reading “Working from home. Is our new normal good for us?”
With the current changes in employment arrangements, I am considering rewriting my copywriting bio. The outdoor writer part of it will go something like this:
“Fi is an outdoor writer based in Devon and specialising in the streets of Torquay. Her particular areas of interest include the greenhouse, circuitous routes to the beach and vegetable box number four. Fi loves showering in her waterproofs, watching TV from her bivvy bag and playing the piano wearing a rucksack. She has absolutely no idea how to pitch a very large tent in a very small garden.”
Upon entering Mr Darby’s home office (previously known as the spare room)
Me: What were you doing just then it sounded like fun
Mr D: I was having a Zoom meeting
Me: I haven’t Zoomed yet
Whether you are antipodean or not, daggy is not a good thing to be. If you are a sheep you will have lumps of poo hanging from your backside. If you are a person, you will be wearing unattractive clothing, allowing your hair to do what it wants to and cutting right back on the showering.
I have to confess to a recent touch of daggism (I blame the lack of Zooming). I have made amends today and even smell nice.
Mr D. noticed.
Which was nice.
Not a term I would use often but as my apple cake had just turned out like a nutmeg flavoured custard frittata, it seemed apt. I am not very good with recipes, either for baking or for life. If there were instructions for life somewhere, I must have lost them along the way. This isn’t really a problem because any set of instructions that included something as bizarre as coronavirus lockdown would take up far too much room in a cupboard (we didn’t have databases when I was born).
A recent survey by the Institute of Employment Studies suggested that during the initial fortnight of lockdown a third of people in the UK were eating more and exercising less than they usually do. This does not appear to have been the case in our house. Despite regular biscuit bakes and outdoor sausage sizzles, we have been suffering from mysterious (but welcome) weight loss.
Benjamin Franklin once said that time was money. He was so wrong…
Has anyone else just lost ten whole days?
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